IN THE FAIRYTALE LAND THAT WAS…. | In the immediate wake of the Evil Queen crashing their wedding, Snow and Charming squabble over what takes priority — plotting a defense, or their honeymoon. Snow appears to acquiesce to Charming’s want by suggesting they retreat to the summer palace, but once there, she sneaks off on a secret agenda… only to be caught mere steps into her trek. She explains that a creature named Medusa resides nearby, and that with one look she turns people — hopefully Regina next — into stone. After Charming raises the valid point about how Snow a few dozen FTL flashbacks ago granted Regina a stay of execution, she explains that now she’s acting in defense of a whole kingdom.

In Medusa’s cave, Charming accidentally locks eyes with the sorceress and turns to stone. But a kinda random “appearance” by the Evil Queen — razzing Snow from the reflection of a torn shield — gives Snow the idea to foil Medusa with the mirrored surface and petrify her, thus freeing Charming. Back at the summer palace, Snow acknowledges that she was obsessed with defeating the Evil Queen because she couldn’t fathom bringing a child into a world amid that looming threat. “But there will always be something else,” she rationalizes. “We have to find the good moments in between all the bad ones.” Cue royal bow-chica-wow-wow.

IN STORYBROOKE…. | As the Jolly Roger splashes down in Storybrooke, there are many reunions to be had. Ariel and Eric (who is, gulp, a fishmonger)… Ariel and Snow… Rumple and Belle… Tinker Bell and Blue Fairy (who can’t restore Green’s wings until she believes in herself again)… and Wendy and her brothers (whom she quickly recognizes despite last seeing them much younger?). “Henry” briefly confabs with Felix, then “turns him in” for appearance’s sake, and Charming hauls the gangly lad off to the pokey. After Rumple seals Pandora’s Box beneath his shop, Belle asks him what’s next, now that there are no prophecies to fret about and so many paths before him. “There’s only one path I’m interested in,” he says. “Where you and I are together.” And the Rumbelle fans squee. Over at the diner, Emma’s worried by Henry’s non-reaction to the storybook and his choice to crash at Regina’s that night, while Hook tells Neal he’s going to “back off” Emma, so that Henry’s parents can have a second shot at romance. But, he stresses, “I’m in it for the long haul,” and Neal has already walked out on Emma once before.

Come bedtime at Regina’s, “Henry” asks some kinda-conspicuous questions about her vault, under the premise that he’s worried about having magic to ward off Pan if he escapes. Once alone, Pan leans out the bedroom window and frees the Shadow from the ship’s mast. The next day, Charming and Emma are on their way back from a father-daughter pep talk (about Neal) and Hook has just gone down in flames after making a play for Tink (“Never gonna happen!”) when they discover that the Shadow has killed Blue, creating a climate of fear that prompts Regina to take her son to the vault. Emma, suspecting that Pan is somehow controlling things from within the box, coaxes Rumple to retrieve the box so that she can release its contents beyond the town line. There, “Pan” appears and professes to be Henry, her son — and luckily passes Emma’s test. Meanwhile in the vault, “Henry” pinches a flask of something or another and KO’s Regina with it.

Emma, Rumple et al arrive at the vault and revive Regina, but Pan is gone — as is the parchment bearing the curse Regina used to create Storybrooke. And if Pan’s game is to cast it again, Rumple notes, there will be no “true love” loophole to restore everyone’s memories. And as Pan reveals to Felix atop the hill overlooking the town, that is his plan — to create a “new Neverland” for them to lord over.

IN REVIEW…. | I very much enjoyed the reunions at the top of the hour — once the Ariel/Snow connection “clicked” for me, I may have let out an audible “Awww” — as well as the “let’s pause and take stock” moments for Rumple/Belle, Neal/Hook, the Charming/Emma chat. And since they had Regina so easily duped by “Henry,” I’m glad they noted in the dialogue that it was because he was saying all the things she wanted to hear. Also, per my Twitter, Hook’s “Perhaps” greatly amused me, and props to Robbie Kay for obviously trying to “play” Henry. As for Blue’s death (or being “gone,” as Charming put it), is this to set up Tink to save the day/her boss, or create a vacancy in Storybrooke for Green to fill?) … The FTL stuff accomplished little, save for likely ruling out Medusa as Rebecca Mader’s mystery villain, providing the origin for Charming’s “good moments” speech and inviting us to play Find Ginny Goodwin’s Baby Bump.

It was a pretty great episode. It gave me a whole bunch of Swanfire feelings. Love them. And everyone else had pretty good interactions!

Didn’t like the honeymoon backstory though. Not the right time, since we still have so much to learn about the Neverland crew. (Hook, Tink, Nealfire’s time in Neverland with Pan- way too many holes in that story).

When I first heard it was a Snowing flashback, I was like, “Now? Why?” Then when TVLine ran the clip of the Medusa thing, I reckoned, “OK, this is all just to plant the Medusa seed so when Mader shows up in the midseason promo with snakes-for-hair, we’ll all be like, Ohhhhh.” But IMO Medusa was ruled out tonight.

Yeah, I agree. She’s not Medusa. Which brings us back to “Now? Why?” Haha. Since the Neverland story seems to be wrapping up next week, it’s a shame that they planted so many storyline seeds that they may never fill in the blanks:
– How did Wendy and Tink know each other?
– What’s Hook and Tink’s backstory?
– Tink and Bae? How does Tink know everybody?!
– How exactly did Bae get off the island? That plan we saw was complicated. Why did Pan let him go in the first place? Why did Bae live in the cave and not with the others?
– Did Hook/Bae have more interactions than we saw?
– Do we know why Hook even went back there in the first place?

I like Wonderland better than the main show! I wish it was getting better reception because I really like it a lot. There are no weak characters in it in my opinion. Everyone who has played a major part has been written very, very well with perhaps one exception.

I won’t go so far as saying I like ir better than the mother show because OUAT is infinitely better to me, but I do enjoy Wonderland, In terms of characters/casting, the one thing I think they got wrong was in casting the Red Queen. She’s just not that great. My only favorite character is the Knave and I hope they have him pop up in the mother show in the future. I wish it were getting better reception too because that may give some hope of them doing different spin-offs of different worlds and fairytales, but it’s looking highly unlikely given Wonderland’s poor ratings.

Tink knows Bae, Wendy, and Hook because Bae was a Lost Boy Hook was in Neverland for a long time planning Rumple’s demise, and Wendy was also on Neverland for a pretty logn time.. She’s been in Neverland the whole time Hook/Bae/Wendy where there, so it’s not much of a stretch to say that’s how she knows them all.

OH my goodness. Ginny’s baby bump is already way too big for the half shots and creative costuming to hide it. They need to make this baby and time lapse it, pronto. Ginny looks beautiful pregnant but her shoulders, hips, face and bum are all showing and there are only so many capes and frumpy coats in the world.

This was probably one of my favorite episodes of the season. There was lots of little great moments, and seeing people bond that we usually don’t. Like Emma and Charming, Neal and Hook and even Snow running to see if Regina was okay first made me a little happy. Pan’s plan to gain power was kind of lazy writing, since they didn’t explain too well how suddenly if everyone lost their memory again, Pan would take control. Loved the Hook and Tinkerbell scene. Very funny and felt more like the Hook from season 2.

The same way Regina took her position as “mayor”. Whoever casts the curse dictates the lives and memories of everyone else in the new reality. All Pan would have to do is cast himself as the ruler of the town and everyone would think he was. Regina created whole lives and back stories for every single person in Storybrooke. Pan would do the same. My main question is this; if you have to sacrifice the heart of the thing you love most I am assuming it’s going to be Rumple for Pan. Does that mean we don’t have worry about the curse unless by some miracle Pan can kill Rumple? Or does it mean that there is someone else somewhere that Pan loves more and he will have to get out of Storybrooke to get that person’s heart?

I would argue the thing Pan loves most is himself. That creates a “Pan must die” in order to start the curse thing. He’s only in it for himself so I can’t imagine there is anything that means more to him.

I think that may lead us to why he killed Blue. Perhaps next episode will be a Pan flashback, and we’ll see Rumple’s father having some important connection to good ol’ Reul Ghorm… Perhaps we’ll even find that Blue is Rumple’s mother? I mean, everyone is everyone in this show.

ITA. I’ve always said the show’s best moments/episodes are the smaller ones, where characters can catch their breath and talk like real people (albeit about extraordinary things). E.g. Emma/Neal in the bar in NYC.

Umm this episode made my jaw drop at the end. Was not expecting recasting the curse would be what Pan in Henry’s body was planning all along I thought this was going to be the winter finale guess I got the dates wrong then I see the preview for next week can’t wait!!

This was the most exciting Storybrooke has been in a long time. To be honest I was very disappointed that Pan and Henry switched bodies last week, but I thought they did a pretty good job, Jared Gilmore wasn’t perfect, but I thought he did as good as was expected, and seeing Robbie Kay as Henry reunite with Emma was actually heartwarming. I hated the Blue Fairy, so I wasn’t exactly sad when she “died,” so I don’t care if she stays that way or not, but I will be a bit disappointed that we may never see Tink stand up to her. My only real gripe was how predictable it was to have Medusa look at her reflection to save Charming. Definitely looking forward to the finale.

I did not care for Robbie Kay as Henry at all. He just wasn’t convincing. Henry is naive and genuine; Robbie Kay’s portrayal was of a totally different person. The show would be ruined for me if the switch became permanent.

I agree so much. I don’t want this at all. Robbie Kay is good, but he is Peter Pan and not Henry. Jared Gilmore is Henry and you can’t just bring in an older actor who looks nothing like him and has been introduced as another character and then have him play Henry for the rest of the show. That’s a terrible scenario in my opinion.

YES !! I came here to write exactly the same thing. They have the perfect opportunity here to leave Henry in Pans body and make it irrevesible. Jared is one horrible actor and he makes my eyes hurt, I bought Robbie’s performance of Henry and a shout out to him as he is also amazing as Pan
But unfortunately that will never happen… :-(

I love this season but one thing bothers me, and that is the fact that parts of the story is being rushed and we are just suppose to assume that some stuff happened off screen. Neal finding out about Peter Pan and Rumple for example. Or Regina and Tink acting like besties in tonight’s episode.
Also, is it weird that I’m sad about Blue’s demise?

They had phones. Why not call Neal, Hook and Tink to see if they can catch him while they make their way back from the Storybrooke line? Not every small thing needs to be shown.
Also, you should rewatch the end of last weeks episode for that scene between Regina and Tink and the pixie dust to see why they acted that way this episode.

My bad. I meant Neal probably had a phone and since they all seemed to spent most of their times at Granny’s, that’s how the other two probably found out and came to help. Anyways, my point was that something like that is a small detail that’s easily explainable. It’s not a big deal if they don’t show it especially during the limited time frame of TV episodes

First of all, i was talking about Neal finding out about the fact that Pan is Rumple’s father, which, yes, IMO it needs to be shown. Secondly, the first time we saw Tink and Regina, Regina had to talk Tink out of killing her. That moment on the ship was nice but no way it resolves all the issues. Anyway those were only two out of many examples.

Sorry. must’ve misread. I thought you were specifically referring to this episode. Also, considering they all went through much more together in one week than regular people would normally go through, Regina/TInk’s resolution was fine to me. Sure there are ways to explore their relationship further (resentment, anger, etc.) when those things come up in the future such as if Tink continues to struggle with getting her wings back, etc., but I’m patient for that to happen later on as there is a lot more important and exciting stuff currently happening that they’re focusing on.

I loved this episode and I’m absolutely loving this season. I was so not expecting the recasting of the curse, but this is getting exciting. But this is so weird and exciting. Robbie Kay as Henry was perfection (Henry as Pan wasn’t that great). Seeing Robbie as Henry hug Emma and Regina was so creepy and weird and awesome at the same time. Can we please get rid of Jared and keep Robbie on full time! The only thing I could complain about would be too much Snow/Charming. Having them in one of the worlds is fine, but the episodes with the flashbacks focused on them are getting tired and boring. Bring in more flashbacks on Emma, Hook, Neal in Neverland, Ariel, and more Regina post-enacting the curse. It’s gonna be so awful having to wait till March!

FINALLY Rumple and Belle are back together, and their two seconds were lovely and perfect. (Never has so much been covered by knotting a tie.) And Belle was adorable matchmaking for Ariel and Eric (who apparently needs a new SB career). The other reunions were also heartwarming, though Ruby was very much missed.
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What was that Rumple said about the last fairy who bit it? “No one will grieve for her”? That goes triple for Blue, though I very much doubt we’ve seen the last of her. Magical creatures can survive losing their shadows (examples: Rumple and Pan himself).
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On the down side, these were the most useless and boring flashbacks to date. I thought the whole thing was at least leading to a nice moment when Snow told Charming she was pregnant with Emma (there had to be a reason that their official wedding was backdated last season), but no–we didn’t even get that. Snow/Charming/Regina flashbacks have reached “Jack’s tattoos” stage: there is nothing more they can tell us except things we care nothing about. Meanwhile there are huge pieces of the Neverland backstory missing (most especially: How did Pan get his hands on the Darlings, and why didn’t Bae know it?).

the idea of the regina/snow and charming flashbacks, was to show how snow and charming portrayed regina as a person and to show the difference by how snow stated how much regina had helped in neverland… It was just to show growth in the character development..

Didn’t care for the flashbacks… A little on the cheesy side for my taste (plus, for some reason, I can’t stand Snow). I don’t even know what’s going to happen next week… and that’s why this season is miles ahead of the last one!

As one of the very few people who really care about Neal. I’m worried about him. I wish Emma would just give him a second chance. I know he left her, but she could give him a second chance. Also I would love to see an episode showing what was Neal doing after Emma went to jail , and maybe people will sympathize with him.

I really love the Snow of the flashbacks, she is indeed a lot like Emma. Wish she could be like that more. Love the reunions, but seriously, can Emma be the only one who could notice Henry wasn´t himself? They all know him longer!
Also why would Regina let Henry be in the scene where Blue was killed? Awful parenting!
Love the Charming/Emma bonding. Love Hook, the one who backs off is usually the one who gets the price in fairetales, so I´m thrilled!

One of (if not the) worst episodes of the season (although still better than the worst of last season). The flashback was terrible and the Pan storyline almost became a subplot to everyone’s very stupid romance problems. No one seems to know how to write down-time scenes here and it just becomes bad filler moments that could have easily been edited out. I was very disappointed.
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Also, why was Henry speaking with a British accent? That made NO sense at all! Robbie couldn’t put on an American accent? He seems like a good enough actor to have pulled that off, so that just seemed like a very bad mistake by either the writers or director.

Robbie probably could have done an American accent, but then Jared would’ve had to do a British accent, and aha, sweet kid though he may be, I don’t think the world at large would be ready for him to try that.

Amazing episode. Loved so many moments in this episode. I was shocked when I saw I only have 10 minutes left. It was so nicely paced. I am really looking forward to next weeks winter finale! Really love how ABC has structured this season. I will admit I was looking for the Ginny/Josh baby bump lol

I really hate love triangles and this Neal/emma/hook one is no exception. Neal and Emma are a bore fest. Seriously I doze off when they share scenes. Bring on Emma and Hook! Love love love their dynamic.

So this just proves I can’t stand Henry’s character, because for the first time I was loving Jared Gilmore.The subtle nuances were great.
And even Robbie Kay as “Henry” I didn’t like. We still had the wide eyed pip squeak thing going. Granted he was slightly less annoying.

But henry is simply an annoying character, and I now realize that Jared Gilmore is doing the best he can.

Love love love Emma/Killian
I want more of them so badly! Hook trying to make Emma jealous was awesome. AND Tink knows Hook is just trying to do whatever he can to get Emma off is mind. I really want Emma/Killian to be it! <3

The Darlings mentioned at the top of the hour that it is time for them to go home. Where?
To Victorian England? If so how? I guess they weren’t a part of the curse since John and Michael were in Boston. Can’t see how Wendy would be at home in modern England or how she would even get a passport. I guess they need some way to explain why they are no longer in Storybrooke.

I am guessing the Winter finally will end in a cliffhanger with the curse being cast and wondering who everyone will be in the new Storybrooke. They can change who everyone is with like say Regina and Rumple are a married couple. Maybe they could make that remark that Charming made tonight be true ie that Charming and Hook are a couple in the new Storybrooke. Then of course he sees Snow and …. Could be fun.

What? Then how did Bae cross centuries? This gets more and more ridiculous.
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The interesting point of that conversation was the emphasis on “all.” I thought they were inviting Neal/Bae to go with them. Obviously, we know what his answer was but it would have been cool to see onscreen.

Loved the first 5 minutes, loved all of Hook’s lines, hated everything else. These flashbacks really were pointless and totally slowed down the pace of the plot. So much of the episode seemed like filler. I loved all the reunion moments at the beginning and would’ve enjoyed an episode centered solely on that — characters reconnecting, previous relationships being flushed out and clarified, new bonds from Neverland being reenforced in Storybrooke. It would’ve been more logical and purposeful than yet another Snow/Charming/Regina flashback.

Are they going to make Hook anything other than Emma’s puppy this season? He lost his personality from season 2. He’s a bore now.

Those flashbacks were a mess. Snowing flashbacks are not interesting anymore because there have been so many of them. It reminds me of Jack’s flashbacks on LOST when they started having episodes about his tattoos.

I agree with those who were confused why we got the Snowing flashbacks in this episode. The story about their honeymoon was filler material and it didn’t add anything to the Storybrooke story. For the penultimate episode these flashbacks made little sense. But I liked most of Storybrooke. The Henry/Pan play and the bittersweetness of Regina having those mother/son scenes with Henry when it wasn’t him, Emma and the real Henry at the town line, Emma and Charming bonding, all the reunions and especially the Darlings, Tinkerbell and the Blue Fairy coming face to face again. I’m not sure yet how I feel about Blue’s death. It felt anticlimatic, but maybe they’ll deal with it more next week. I hope it means Tinkerbell sticks around now though. I only wish they would stop with this love triangle. It’s so clichéd and unnecessary for a show like this and Hook especially has become such a pathetic character who’s only role on the show is the love interest.

Could it be that they introduced the Medusa storyline because she’s the only way to defeat Pan? She could be stored up somewhere by Regina and maybe Regina can undo the petrification state Medusa’s in. Otherwise those flashbacks didn’t make sense.

I saw the flashbacks as paralleling when Snow got pregnant the first time with her and Charming wanting another baby in the present. Now both current story line and flashbacks can show the actress pregnant in the second half of the season.

This episode was great! The only thing I did not like was the flashback of Snow. It seemed like they shot this after the other scenes and because of that Jennifer Goodwin’s pregnancy is really starting to show, meaning her full face and body and it seemed disproportionate from how her body looked in present day Storybrooke. So they should have dropped these scenes!

So is this how ‘the boy’ will be Rumple’s undoing? Did we ever actually hear that it was Henry, his grandson, who was prophesied, or just ‘the boy’ and the image of Henry? This way it is Henry-but-not-Henry who will have to take the heart of the thing he loves most (his father) to enact the curse. I just really hope they resolve it in the finale next week and wrap up the whole Pan storyline as promised.

I, too, didn’t feel that the flashback was necessary. I was able to relate that to the Emma’s revelation about being “the Savior” however, when she was saying to Charming that she’s never going to be able to relax. Snow finally came to the same conclusion during the flashback.
I thought Storybrooke was much more interesting, but yes, I feel that there are alot of small details that need to be tied up. If the producers are interested in fan feedback – that’d be my suggestion. And I didn’t understand all of the ramifications of the curse being re-enacted. Would it affect everyone in Storybrooke? Would Emma and Henry also be affected, being that they weren’t born in FTL? Looking forward to next week’s conclusion.

I’m not sure I understand why people are hating on the Snowing flashbacks. The show is technically, at it’s core, about the Charming family and it was a way to show how Charming and Snow decided to try to have kids, which is clearly where their story is heading in current times. I actually found the Snowing conversations very adorable and, frankly, it’s nice to see them without all the drama.

Those flashbacks are redundent. They show us again and again how Snow/Charming are trying to find ways to stop Regina, and how they fail.
We all know the outcome of the flashbacks, because we know that Regina was successful with her curse.
The flashback could have been cut out, and you wouldn’t be any wiser. The story would still be the same.

The titles for the first 2 episodes in 2014 (starting March 9 almost 3 months off the air) are
“New York City Serenade” and “Witch Hunt”. Any speculation about where the story is going? I would guess the first would have something to do with Neil as he is the only one with a connection to NYC.

This episode could have also been titled “In Which Charming Tries to Get Some.” :P
My real question is WHEN are they going deal with/account for Jared Gilmore growing up? I suspend a lot of disbelief for OUAT, but it’s getting hard to ignore, especially since the kid’s voice has clearly started changing. He’s just not 10 anymore.

Seriously, OUAT!? Medusa!? Snow? You gotta be f##kiing kidding me! The best thing about that whole stupid senario was Snow’s line, somethng about how that wasn’t in the legend. If it wasn’t for Rumple this whole episode would have sucked.

So I just finished the episode and one of the main questions I have is why the Blue Fairy? If Pan just needed to create a reason to get “Henry” in the vault, why choose the Blue Fairy? I feel like there is more to it, maybe she’s another part of the family tree.

So…I am I the only one thinking that they should make this little pan/henry body switcharoo permanent? I mean, it’s a perfect excuse to have an all new, and being honest, better actor, in the role of Henry. I guess things could get a little awkward when you think too much about Henry being stuck in his evil great-grandfathers teenage body…but, that’s really a minor detail in the grand scheme of this show. Just an idea :)